The basin of the danaides: how 3-D printing will push the limits of international gun control and digital freedom of speech in the twenty-first century.

AuthorMeyer, Jean-Yves
  1. INTRODUCTION

    The no longer inchoate technology of 3-D printing will revolutionize the current balance of regulation involved with international arms trafficking and digital freedom of speech by greatly democratizing and decentralizing the manufacturing of arms worldwide. Specifically, individuals worldwide will no longer need to purchase weapons from established and regulated manufacturers. Rather, in the near future, interested gun owners will simply need an internet connection, a 3-D printer, and the necessary raw materials, and with a click of the mouse, a layperson can have a workable unregistered weapon without a serial number or record of its manufacture. Future attempts by international legislators to regulate this technology will prove to be ineffective, similar to efforts to prevent the illegal downloading of music or film. Moreover, any attempt to disrupt the dissemination of the source code templates for these weapons will raise new questions regarding what are the boundaries of digital freedom of speech as recognized by international law.

    1. What is 3-D Printing

      3-D printing, also known as "additive manufacturing," is the process of creating a digital model or blueprint of a desired object using Computer-Aided Design ("CAD") software and "printing" off the desired object. (1) The CAD permits the construction of the object by taking a series of digital layers and transcribes each layer of the object to the 3-D printer. (2) The desired object is created by adding continuous layers of the raw material according to the design set forth until the finished product eventually emerges within the printer. (3) To better understand this unique manufacturing process, it is important to appreciate the difference between additive manufacturing and traditional manufacturing techniques. Additive manufacturing works by directly layering successive materials, whereas traditional manufacturing is done much in the same way a sculptor approaches his unfinished medium: by cutting away material from the template. Thus, additive manufacturing uses much less material. (4)

      There are different engineering methods by which each of the layers may be joined. For example, some 3-D printers use powders as the print medium. By spreading thin layers of the raw materials, such as aluminum powder, a laser can melt the powder into the desired shape through a process called laser sintering. (5) Alternatively, an extrusion nozzle can spray extremely thin layers of thermoplastic polymers that harden immediately after extrusion. (6) As each layer of plastic hardens, it serves as a base upon which further material can be added. Companies around the world are developing their own methods of 3-D printing unique from the methods just described using over different materials from plastic to titanium as base media. (7) Nevertheless, additive manufacturing is the one common method of production generally incorporated by all 3-D printer manufacturers.

      Although 3-D printing technology has existed in its infancy for several decades now, it was only recently that the technology began to mature. In March of 2012, individuals at the University of Technology, Vienna, created a "nano racing car" through a process called two-photon lithography. (8) Using this 3-D printing technology, scientists were able to manufacture a car in a mere four minutes that was four times the size of a human's hair. (9) The applications of this technology are astonishing. In June 2011, an eighty-three-year-old woman underwent surgery for a jaw transplant that doctors manufactured through the process of 3-D printing. (10) The doctors manufactured the jaw implant using titanium powder fused together by heating the powder one layer at a time using a laser. (11) As of 2013, 3-D printers have only been able to print primary structures (not, for example, computers or iPods), but Mr. Michael Idelchik of GE Global Research believes "one day we will print an engine." (12)

      Much like emerging computer and printing technology from the 1980's and 1990's, 3-D printing machines have decreased in cost and improved in performance capacity. Basic non-industrial 3-D printers can now be purchased for as little as USD $400. (13) Additionally, new recycling technologies have paved the way for obtaining the raw materials for production from common domestic items such as plastic water bottles or Lego bricks. (14)

      The evolution of 3-D printing is coupled with a certain culture of direct participation in the manufacturing phase by end users. Specifically, Wikipedia-styled websites such as RepRap.org are using the GNU General Public License that guarantees the public's right to use, study, share, and modify the software. (15) Thingverse.com, another open source 3-D printing website, states that the website's purpose is to "create a community of people who create and share designs freely, so that all can benefit from them." (16) As a result of this unconventional understanding of proprietary information, the doors of manufacturing are democratized with the sharing of code.

    2. 3-D Printing of Small Arms and Light Weapons

      This paper will focus its attention exclusively on the illicit manufacturing and trafficking of small arms and light weapons ("SALW"). SALW are man portable lethal weapons that expel or launch a projectile using the action of an explosive. (17) "Small arms" are designed for personal use and include, inter alia, revolvers, assault-rifles, and rifles. (18) "Light Weapons such as heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars of a caliber less than 100 millimeters "are generally designed for use by multiple persons. (19)

      The "Wiki Weapon Project," seemingly the most notorious and discussed 3-D printing small arms project, is an effort by Defense Distributed, a non-profit based in Austin Texas, to produce "a freely-distributed open source design for a 3-D printed firearm." (20) To date, 3-D printing has achieved the printing of thirty round magazines for an AR-15, muzzle suppressors, and an AR-15 reinforced lower receiver. (21) Within the United States, the only regulated part of an AR-15 weapon is the lower receiver, because it satisfies the definition of a "firearm" set forth by the Gun Control Act of 1968. (22) While it is currently impossible to print off a working version of an AR-15 in its totality, one likely outcome of this technology will be a separation of production between the legal manufacturing of the rest of weapon and the illicit manufacturing of the regulated lower receiver.

      For many years, gun enthusiasts and underground market participants have illicitly manufactured small arms, both domestically and internationally, in countries where the manufacture of such arms is illegal. For example, a carryover law from the British Colonial regime continues to prohibit the manufacture of SALW in Ghana. (23) Today, Ghana has a thriving illegal gun manufacturing industry in which local gunsmiths use readily available materials to produce working copies of AK-47s at a collective annual production rate of one hundred thousand weapons per year. (24) Within the United States "Saturday Night Specials" or "Zip Guns" are sometimes manufactured, and used, even by children, despite the often lethal consequences to the user because of catastrophic failure of materials used when fired. (25)

      The 3-D printing of SALW will further promote the illicit manufacture of arms by facilitating and democratizing the process of manufacture. 3-D printing will achieve this by doing the following: 1) removing the knowledge barrier of illicit manufacturing so that inexperienced gunsmiths are able to produce workable guns with ease; 2) reducing the burden of transport by allowing the direct manufacture of SALW in the zone of conflict as opposed to requiring the transport of weapons across state borders; and 3) improving the quality of weapons by permitting the instantaneous modification of weapons as desired.

      Despite the fact that technology to 3-D print a gun like an AR-15 is still in its infancy, it is likely that the capacity of technology to manufacture a functional weapon from the comfort of one's home is quickly approaching. Nevertheless, the extreme prevalence of weapons already available within the United States for purchase will make the effects of 3-D printing technology less disruptive domestically than elsewhere in the world. Evidence for such a claim can be found in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives' ("ATF") records. The ATF estimates that in 2010 alone almost 5.5 million firearms were manufactured within the United States. (26) Additionally, individuals who would otherwise be prohibited from purchasing a weapon within the United States (e.g. convicted felons or addicts of illegal controlled substances) (27) can purchase a weapon through a "straw purchase." This creates a relatively unfertile demand for the expanded use of this technology domestically. A "straw purchase" occurs when the actual buyer of a weapon uses a "straw purchaser" to execute the purchasing form ("Form 4473") representing that the "straw purchaser" is the actual purchaser of the weapon when this is actually not the case. (28) Generally, a "straw purchaser" is hired when the actual purchaser is prohibited by law from acquiring the firearm, desires to acquire a firearm, and thus engages the "straw purchaser" to misrepresent himself to the vendor as the actual purchaser. (29) Nonetheless, it is likely that in countries where existing gun control legislation is stringent, the effects of 3-D printing will be considerable.

  2. EXISTING INTERNATIONAL LAW REGULATING SALW

    There currently exist six multilateral arms trafficking agreements apposite to the regulation of SALW. (30) The first three discussed are non-binding whereas the second three are binding to signatory states. (31) These six agreements will be introduced here and will be discussed in greater detail later in the paper.

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